Romero, Green earn all-conference honors at CMAC Cross Country Championships

Published 7:56 pm Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Smith-Cotton seniors Cirilo Romero and Reese Green earned all-conference honors at the Central Missouri Activities Conference Cross Country Championships on Friday, Oct. 16, in Columbia.

Both runners finished 15th in their respective divisions, with Romero finishing the boys race in 16:54.71 and Green posting a 21:27.06 in the girls race.

In the team standings, the Smith-Cotton boys placed fifth with 119 points, while the girls placed sixth with 136 points.

Rock Bridge swept both team titles. The boys team scored 18 points — led by senior Henry Steele’s first-place finish at 16:10.07 — while the girls team totaled 40 points, led by sophomore Blakely Cooper’s winning time of 19:41.05.

Following Romero on the boys side, senior Elijah Holiway delivered Smith-Cotton’s next best individual performance, placing 18th with a time of 17:28.69.

Senior Miles Haney just missed the top 20, coming in 21st at 17:30.06.

Sophomores Elliott Clark and Jason Dussell placed 32nd and 33rd, respectively, finishing with times of 18:41.29 and 18:42.08.

Rounding out the Tigers, senior Alexander Sim placed 38th with a time of 18:56.18 and junior Grady Hansen placed 44th with a time of 20:09.37.

Junior Bailey Malloy had the next-best finish for the girls team behind Green, placing 22nd with a time of 22:08.23.

Freshman Kayla Porter placed 35th with a time of 23:56.70, followed by senior Josephine Spradling in 37th (24:09.16) and junior Abigail Barnette in 38th (24:17.49).

Freshman Mackenzie Zimmerman placed 42nd with a time of 24:34.06, while junior Adrianne Dennis placed 43rd with a time of 25:14.17.

The Smith-Cotton cross country teams will compete in the Waynesville District Warm-Up on Thursday, Oct. 22, before heading to the Class 5 District 2 meet on Oct. 31 in Bolivar.

Sports editor Jack Denebeim can be reached at 660-530-0142.